Disability struggles

[Fiz]

I need a whinge so thought I would start a general thread for anyone to add struggles they have in life due to illness or disability. 

I have my bubble visiting tomorrow for 3 nights and only get an online shopping delivery fortnightly and it's not that week so I thought I would try click and collect today as I don't go in shops. I researched widely how to use click and collect never having used it before but could only find instructions telling me to park in the Asda click and collect bays. So I went there to discover that I am meant to click on the link in the text to tell them I have arrived but my phone is a payg basic phone with no credit so I couldn't connect to the internet and I couldn't call them which was the alternative option. 

I'd seen an Asda click and collect TV advert within the last couple of weeks which said they'll even pack your shopping into the boot for you so I got out to open my boot and spread my canvas shopping bags out. Getting out of the car was painful because the bays are so narrow with metal signs at the side that the door would only open 40° and I had to twist my way out of the car and it was excruciating but I managed it. I wondered whether they'd close the boot for me after loading the shopping, thought they probably would so as standing is painful I twisted my way into the car again. 

An Asda woman came over and asked for my name and I told her and she went away. After a couple of minutes the lady customer from an adjacent car called through my open car boot "your lady's here" in an exasperated sarcastic tone. I could see in the mirror an Asda lady with the crates by the boot, couldn't twist to talk to her about loading the shopping so was forced to get out of the car, this time the pain was horrendous. I did say to the lady that I had thought that help was available loading the shopping but she said that they're not allowed to due to Covid. Asda really need to take off the adverts saying they do load shopping then because I would not have attempted to do a click and collect shop had I known and that's even before knowing that the bays are so narrow it's difficult and painful to get out of the car. My rear sensors beeped rapidly on both sides as I reversed warning me of the metal posts each side which shows how narrow the bays are. In the advert the Asda employee loading the shopping into the boot was wearing a mask so the advert was made during the pandemic.

Asda click and collect is definitely not disability friendly! 

My spine is really painful now. It's started clunking with neuropathic pain recently and I wonder if this is what the spine tumour Consultant meant when he mentioned an unstable spine. I really didn't need this. My fatigue was so awful I didn't know if I could go but went in my pjs having put ankle boots on and a long coat. The sarcastic customer stood at the back of her car and watched me reverse out with a judgemental look on her face. I actually cried driving home, pain and fatigue just mean I struggle with situations like this. I could have done without that customer there.

[ditchdwellers]

Some people will never understand just how bloody difficult it is to carry out things they take for granted. I'm so sorry you're in such pain. 
I know there's nothing I can do to help practically so I'll just send you a few more 

I hope you get to have with your bubble, regardless of bloody stupid Asda.

[KizzyKazaer]

That is a truly lousy experience you've had there and I would have expected better from one of the so-called 'Top Four' supermarkets.  Just and and

When/if you're up to it, might be a good idea to make a formal complaint to ASDA by e-mail or letter.

[Fiz]

Another whinge. I had a stair lift fitted in December 2019 and in August last year the slide rail malfunctioned. The installation company came out four times failing to fix it though it was worked out by one workman that if the chair is coming down, you stop and go back up for a second, stop and come down again that resets the computer fault and the slide rail works so doing that each time means the chair takes me to the hallway which has made life okay. I hadn't had a new appointment for a couple of months after the company's last visit when they'd failed to fix it. The workman had turned up thinking there was a problem with the footstep whereas the problem was the slide rail. Not knowing what the problem was made me have zero faith in his ability to fix it and sure enough he didn't and was clueless. I thought a new part was being ordered so waited for a new appointment but two months on I emailed them and asked when the stairlift would be fixed. The warranty ended in December but as it hasn't been working normally since August I felt they should fix it before handing over maintenance to the council. 

I had an email answer from the company owner who was clearly shocked that I had a malfunctioning stairlift after so long and I had obviously been forgotten since the last visit which had failed to fix the issue. He'd contacted the stairlift manufacturer and apparently the issue was a known issue in a small number of stairlifts. The manufacturer was offering either a new computer board which should fix the problem or a new replacement. As one of the four failed attempts to fix it involved replacing the computer board and that hadn't worked I chose a replacement stair lift. 

It was booked for yesterday. The van was here at midday and it sat on my driveway and the man knocked on my door at 1.15pm. He's entitled to his lunch break. He then took over four hours removing the old stair lift and installing the new one. It really should have been booked as a day job so started in the morning in my opinion. I was stuck downstairs in the living room and became desperate for the loo but couldn't get upstairs to the only loo here. My pain was also horrendous and by 5.30pm I was also fatigued and tearful. He then proceeded to give me a ten minute explanation of how the chair had been set up as a left handed version and exactly what he had had to do step by step to change it to a right handed version, I really couldn't have cared less. Then he had to give me a full demo on how it works despite it being exactly the same in every way to the last one, I had tears running down my face by this time because I was stood in my hallway in so much pain. He said he could see that I was in pain. He insisted that I try the chair out before he left so I had to fetch the disinfectant spray and wipes and clean it all down before using it as I always disinfect everything touched by workmen in the house currently due to Covid. That trip up the stairs trying it out did provide the opportunity to nip to the loo at least! Thankfully unlike his last visit he didn't needlessly touch things he'd just watched me disinfect. 

That 40 minute demo and talk about his work was just excruciating. The hygiene of the workmen from this firm is unpleasant. BO and urine being the usual odour and with my preoccupation with Covid that doesn't ease my anxiety about having people in the house and yet I needed the stairlift fixed. I wouldn't recommend this installation company to anyone. It's taken them so long to fix the issue that happened in August too. 

The stairlift is the newer model and it's faster than the previous snails pace one which is great but unfortunately at the top when it turns to the landing my toes only just touch the ground (and I'm 1.65m so goodness knows how shorties manage) so I have to shuffle forwards to put my feet on the ground to stand up and shuffling hurts my spine so I am disappointed in that but it seems it's not height adjustable. Apart from that, it's great and it works. 

The whole thing has been a nightmare since August, I am so relieved that it's now fixed. As this is a brand new stairlift is the one year warranty restarted or has it now ended because the warranty began in December 2019 and I now have a working stairlift so it's now handed to the council? The installation company certainly earned their money with two installations, one removal and four failed maintenance visits! They probably made a loss on my custom!

What a nightmare. Sorry for that long spiel! Just needed a whinge about a long painful day.

[ally]

We have a home delivery by Morrison’s  and, a click and and collect from Asda once a week.   The click and collect, the assistant wheels the groceries to the car.   Then, my husband packs the groceries from the wheeled container into bags, then, into the boot of the car.   I couldn’t do that myself.   Morrison’s, brings the wheeled containers to the door.   Then, stand back, while you upload the groceries into bags, then, into the house.  When we first started the deliveries, Morrison’s pre packed the groceries into plastic bags before wheeling them in the containers  to your door.   However, due to an outcry about the over use of plastic bags, they don’t do that now. 

I don’t think there’s a solution for those who are disabled at the moment.  Without my husband doing the above, I’d struggle big time, just the same as Fiz does  I’m struggling big time with masks.  As mentioned, I’ve needed bloods being done at the hospital, and, surgery.  They were finally done at the surgery by the phlebotomist.   However,  neither the phlebotomist, or, the gps at the hospital would remove their masks.  Without my husband being present acting as my interpreter, and he wears a clear plastic shield, I can’t communicate at all.   This pandemic has hit the disabled hard in many ways.  The none disabled have no idea how hard it is for the likes of us.